an initial study on applicability of particle tracing for determination of solid particle distribution in stirred bioreactors

The sedimentation of solid particles in stirred bioreactors such as bioleaching reactors reduces the available solid surface area, which results in a lower rate of reaction# on the other hand, excessive impeller speed, in addition to energy consumption, especially in large reactors, can negatively affect the performance of microorganisms# therefore, the impeller must be set at the optimum speed# in this study, the standard k-ε model was employed to model turbulency and a particle tracing module was used to predict the percentage of suspended particles in different speeds and find the optimal speed# the results show at the speeds higher than 300 rpm sedimentation does not take place#